It is really important that we find our threshold. As a human being, where is it that we want to quit? What’s our breaking point? As a twelve year old, I went to a camp for poor inner city kids. It’s was a free camp and I was away the whole summer. While I was there, we went … [Read more…]
The martial arts classroom is a place of participation, of engagement. It happens both with ourselves and with other people – the training makes that possible. Not to alienate anyone, but if your main way of connecting to another person is through being a professional sports fan – a sidelines observer – it’s pretty limited. By way of … [Read more…]
Jiu-Jitsu training is designed to raise your thermostat, to help you to overcome your limitations. Your temperature may rise in the classroom, but will your overall understanding of your personal capabilites also increase? The objective of the martial arts is to expand the range of your “self” – not only your self-confidence but your whole self-concept. … [Read more…]
Many people leave their training for many different reasons – they were embarrassed rather than mentored, they got edged out by an antagonistic environment, they’re matched with a teacher who cares more about what they can do for him than what he can do for them. To quit something that’s good for you, like Jiu-Jitsu … [Read more…]
The other day I was going to judo and I got stuck in traffic. I was twenty minutes late and inside I was appalled – there is no worse feeling than being late to class. One part of me would rather go to the movies than walk into the dojo late but the other part … [Read more…]
Where is Mr. Miyagi? If you can remember growing up in 1970s, you probably remember Bruce Lee being the pinnacle of what martial arts training was about. And then came the Karate Kid, and to anyone from a divorced family and growing up in the streets (like myself), it offered a compelling vision of a … [Read more…]
Last night and we were discussing my friend’s trip to Japan. He had been a martial arts practitioner and I had asked him what the best part of the trip was. He said, “I can’t really say what my favorite part was, but I’ll tell you what surprised me the most. Back when I was training in … [Read more…]
The title “coach” for an instructor or assistant instructor in the Jiu-Jitsu community might actually be a misnomer. It runs the risk of minimizing the relationship between the senior and the junior on the mat. I can understand that if you’re doing cross-fit or some sport maybe someone would be a coach, but it lacks the … [Read more…]
Don’t become the victim of short-term thinking. It is completely unacceptable for anyone practicing the martial arts to get into a street fight for any reason other than to save your life or a loved one’s life. Avoid it at all costs. The risks are great, the quote-unquote glory is non-existent, and the nonsense can … [Read more…]
As teachers, we have come to believe that the martial arts graduation (and specifically the jiu-jitsu belt graduation) is the most important part of what we do. The reason is simple: it is the acknowledgement and recognition of progress following a demanding, laborious and often challenging experience. The reason is simple: I remember growing up without a … [Read more…]